Wild Cards [Ika | Mirabelle]

Mirabelle nodded to one of the attending, unseated recruits. He alone wasn't strong enough but she'd managed to set up a team to set up a series of barriers to contain the fallout. Ika had suggested a spar and, as a newly appointed captain, who was she to say no?

Still, precautions had to be taken. The Seireitei could take only so much internal damage before questions would be raised about whoever was doing the damage. Hence the unseated folks setting up the containments. She didn't have to wait long to feel the seals complete. They weren't as strong as if she'd made them, of course, but they'd do.

"Well, I hope he's ready." Mira says to herself, unsheathing her blade and beginning to craft spells in her mind's eye. It was a matter of time before he showed up.

Ika was always down to test out his Captains, that much was certainly fair to say.

He walked forward with a cigarette perched firmly above his upper lip, his face was vacant and his reputation seemed to move the men forming the barrier long before he physically had the opportunity to do so. He took a deep drag off the cigarette as the wall slowly but surely sealed behind him, his eyes danced with at best mild curiosity as he cracked his neck and stared forth at the Captain in front of him. As the smoke filled the air in front of him, he took inventory of his thoughts as best he could.

He wasn't stupid and nor was Mirabelle, this spar wasn't meant to be a competitive affair, no God was pulling favors for her today and this wasn't something he was going to suffer any ill effects from. Frankly, there were two Captains in the Gotei, maybe three who could do real harm to Ika and Mirabelle simply wasn't among them. That was okay, she didn't have to be, but she did need to be up to his standards if he was going to entrust her with the task he had entrusted her with.

Ika flipped the card around in his hand with a small sleight of hand trick, a joker card with flames etched across the artwork appeared in his hand. "I'm glad you could make it Mirabelle.. now let's see what you have to offer."

"But of course." Mirabelle responds, her fingers already beginning to work threads of reiryoku. The stray hairs not held in place by the elastic in her ponytail begin to rise as she floods her surroundings with energy. In but a moment the spell of burning ozone permeates the air as two orbs of blue fire appear over either of her shoulders.

Without any indication the orbs shoot forward, orbiting one another for a few seconds before their power seems to fold in on itself. Their flames seem to flicker and die in the blink of an eye, the mass of the balls shrinks down into little more than a streak of light.

To date, she'd yet to see anyone else alter spells after they were cast. Mirabelle knew she was one of, if not the only one, the few who could make adjustments to their spell work. Soren Sokatsui was a slow spell but it packed a punch. Byakurai had amazing speed but lacked much power. One was great offense, the other great utility. She knew that, together, they could pack quite a punch.

Mirabelle, taking advantage of what would hopefully be something of a surprise, moves to what she hopes will be a safe enough distance that she can continue to fire spells. It was a foolish idea to think that she could keep Ika at bay for long but she wasn't stupid. Looking down at the blade in her hand she mutters, "Release."

The girls fingers were moving and that was pretty much as good an indicator as Ika needed that she was ready to get this thing going. She launched her first spell, a unique curation of her own invention that Ika dodged with relative ease, he had Shunpo'd forward and to the left, allowing his eyes to take in the blast with his eyebrow raised slightly as he worked his way towards Mirabelle. He leapt forward as soon as he saw her, eyes poised and ready as he launched a strike at her head, hoping to knock her backwards or to at least have her Shunpo in the opposite direction, either outcome would see him on top of her for a follow up.

Ika would Shunpo up and come down from the skies above, his leg cocked in the air as he brought it down like an axe, hoping to either KO the poor captain on impact, or to crater the entire area she was previously occupying. The only question left, was which outcome would occur.

Mira cursed Ika's speed as she watched her first spell fly by him, his form flickering before reappearing between where he had been and herself. He wasted no time in advancing on her. As soon as he was within range he made a swift strike at her head. Before it could connect, her own form flickered before reappearing several meters away. Though she wasn't as fast as Ika, Mira could shunpo too.

As she began to take stock of Ika from a distance once more, only to find he was already closing in. He leapt into the air, his heel poised to come down hard on either herself or the surrounding area. Bringing her blade up from her side, Mirabelle poised it as if to block the attack before unleashing a torrent of black tar seeming to come from inside the blade.

She knew better than to rely on that to detour the commander, so the redhead began working a spell. In seconds, a shimmering golden, circular shield appeared before her blade. It wasn't the strongest she could make but, with her shikai's ability, it didn't need to be.

The girl seemed to be coming to grips with the fact Ika was faster than her, which, I mean yeah. It was going to be a rough adjustment, that much was obvious as she almost reflexively Shunpo'd backwards, seemingly expecting this strategy of moving backwards in perpetuity to work. As a spoiler, it wouldn't, and Ika had followed her directly to where she had ended up and was already attempting to kick her into pieces. That was of course, until her blade went up and he was forced to re-evaluate the situation.

Before making impact Ika would snap a hand down towards the ground and push off of it, handspringing backwards and out of his previously attempted move. He used Shunpo Arts to get his arm down in time, narrowly avoiding the black primordial ooze seeping from the blade. He didn't actually know much about what it was, but he also wasn't really interested in finding out. He headed back in her direction in time to see a shield form, and he cast one of his cards directly at it just to see how it held up under stress. For now, this was a feeling out process.